I’m Chairman, North America of Landor Associates, a brand consulting and design firm that specializes in creating agile brands that thrive in today’s disruptive, changing market. I work with some of the most powerful brands in the world, and oversee Landor’s new business efforts in North America. I’m also author of three books, The Edge: 50 Tips from Brands that Lead, BrandDigital, and BrandSimple. I’m interested in general business trends and write about their impact on brands. I’ve worked with corporate and consumer brands in a wide range of industries including: Diageo, FedEx, GE, J&J, the NBA, P&G, and Verizon.

Thomas Friedman On What's Required To Rebuild A Once Strong Brand

As I reviewed the list of speakers included in this year’s ANA Master’s of Marketing conference in Phoenix it was obvious why Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and columnist for The New York Times was on the agenda. In his newest book, That Used to Be Us, written with Michael Mandelbaum, Director of the Foreign Policy program at Johns Hopkins University, the authors assert that the United States no longer leads the world in its ability to innovate and to efficiently create new things and ideas. Their notion that “average is over” and that as a country we need to nurture creativity and inventiveness in order to regain our “exceptionalism” is a theme that resonates within every chapter.

Looking at the line-up of speakers and their topics at this important conference, there is no doubt that the folks at these smart companies get what these authors are saying. In a marketplace that has become exponentially competitive, in which there has been an erosion of key American values, and in which keeping up with the ongoing revolution in information technology is a mere cost of entry, building brands is, well, to put it mildly, a challenge. Those in charge of brands of all sizes recognize full well that the future belongs to institutions with the ability to not just think big thoughts, but act on these ideas creatively and deftly with the engagement of people at all levels. Friedman and Mandelbaum’s well-reasoned assertion that in an absolutely global, interconnected economy, something “extra” is required to succeed will definitely play well to this audience.

Given that we view the world from where we sit, I read That Used to Be Us from the perspective of the branding professional I am. And, given that I will be attending the ANA Masters of Marketing conference this coming week, I thought it would be interesting to talk to Mr. Friedman prior to his appearance there. (I interviewed him for my book, BrandSimple, and his take on the intersection of business, politics, culture, and world events is fascinating.) Herewith is a bit of our conversation:

Allen Adamson: Albeit much larger in scope, it seems that some of the principles that pertain to regaining a leadership position for “Brand USA” are similar in nature to rebooting any brand or institution these days. What is your take on this?

Thomas Friedman: One of the points in our book is that things have really changed out there. The world has gone from connected to hyper-connected. The whole global curve has risen. That’s because your boss, everyone’s boss, has greater access to cheaper, more highly productive labor, cheaper, more highly productive automation or software, cheaper and more highly productive operations, and cheaper and more highly productive genius. This means that in every company, in any category, every worker is going to be asked not to just do their job, but to reinvent or re-engineer how their jobs can be done.

AA: This obviously means there is a much higher premium on creativity in all areas of an organization. You can’t simply rely on management to be order-givers. People in all areas, on all levels, of the organization must be genuinely engaged and inspired enough by what they’re doing and, more so, empowered to act. They’ve also got to understand what purpose their brand – my expression– serves for consumers.

TF: Absolutely. In fact, management must not just look to, but count on, the people on the front lines, employees on the field who are closer to the customer, to the newest technology, and to market dynamics, to determine where there are gaps, or product openings. You, as a boss, can’t possibly know what’s happening on the shop floor, so to speak.

AA: In your book you refer to this dynamic as “Carlson’s Law,” which speaks to the role of management, whether CMO, CFO, or CEO, in our hyper-connected, fast-moving workplace. Tell me more about this.

TF: Curtis Carlson is the CEO of SRI International, a company in Silicon Valley that advises many corporations and government agencies on how to unleash innovation in a world driven by globalization and constantly evolving information technology. Carlson’s Law – our term, not his – is that things that come from the top down are slow and dumb, and things that comes from the bottom up are smart, but chaotic. The role, actually the challenge, for management is to find the right level of top-down and bottom-up – which is the sweet spot for innovative solutions. And the sweet spot is moving down because it’s the people who deal with the customers day in and day out who know what’s actually happening out there.

AA: So, one of the central messages in your book, whether it’s directed at the government or to an audience at the ANA conference, is that you need people at all levels who are inventors, who are creative, and you need people at the top who can edit all the stuff that’s coming at them and can identify a great idea when it’s presented to them. It’s no longer enough to move the line. You’ve got to be willing and able to reinvent the line.

TF: Right. You can’t look at the past to determine in which direction you must head, but rather ask what world you’re living in now. Every day, the best companies ask “How do we thrive in this world?” This is not just a matter of focusing on what questions consumers are looking to have solved but, more critical, discerning what consumers need or want before they even ask. If you wait for customers to tell you what they want you’ll never be a leader. To succeed in this environment you need people, creative people, who come up to you and say, “We must, and can, do our work in a new way.”

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